Friday, April 20, 2018

North Korea Suspends Nuclear Tests, Shuts Down Test Site





From the Washington Post:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that he will suspend nuclear and missile tests starting Saturday and that he will shut down the site where the previous six nuclear tests were conducted.

The surprising announcement comes just six days before Kim is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a precursor to a historic summit between Kim and President Trump. The U.S. president is set to meet Kim at the end of May or beginning of June, although a location has not yet been set.

Both Moon and Trump have been saying that North Korea is now willing to “denuclearize,” a term that means different things to the two sides.

“North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site,” Trump tweeted shortly after the announcement from Pyongyang. “This is very good news for North Korea and the World — big progress! Look forward to our Summit.”

But Kim’s statement on Saturday made no mention of North Korea giving up its program. It simply signaled a freeze, apparently because the leader is satisfied with the rapid progress the country made last year, developing what it said was a “super large heavy warhead” and a missile capable of carrying it to the U.S. mainland.
Does this mean North Korea wants peace and will give up its nuclear program or that it's simply finished with tests and no longer needs the test site?
...Next Friday, Kim will cross the Military Demarcation Line that has divided the peninsula since the end of the Korean War, becoming the first North Korean leader to do so since then. He will step into “Peace House” on the southern side of the line to meet Moon, with their encounter being broadcast live.

Moon signaled this week that everything was on the table at the meeting.

“North Korea is expressing its intention for complete denuclearization,” Moon said Thursday. “And it is not making demands that the U.S. cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of the U.S. forces in Korea.”
Whatever North Korea intends to do with its nuclear weapons program, Kim and Moon's meeting will be historic. That in itself is an extremely positive development.

Shouldn't President Trump be a shoo-in for the Nobel Peace Prize?

Posted by Mary at 4/20/2018 10:45:00 PM

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